Device and method for configuring almost blank subframe and heterogeneous wireless communication network

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and a method for a wireless communication network. The apparatus includes circuitry configured for acquiring the first information associated with an indicator indicating communication quality of user terminals served by an interfering base station; acquiring second information associated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals interfered by the interfering base station; configuring, based on the first information and the second information, transmission of the interfering base station for inter-base station coordination. The technical solution improves the overall performance of the wireless communication heterogeneous network.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of wirelesscommunication, and more particularly, to an apparatus for configuringAlmost Blank Subframe (ABS) in a wireless communication heterogeneousnetwork, a wireless communication heterogeneous network, and a methodfor configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in a wireless communicationheterogeneous network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) of universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS), higher requirements are put forward onthe performance of cell-edge users. For example, in the scenario inwhich a macro base station and a home base station coexist in a LTE-Asystem, if the home base station adopts a way of closed user groupaccess, the edge user that is not in access list and is served by themacro base station will be interfered with seriously, or even cannot beserved at all. The application of almost blank subframe (ABS) technologyin this kind of scenarios greatly improves the performance of edge usersof the macro base station, and has become a focus of LTE-A interferencecoordination research.

The ABS technology inserts ABSs in normal subframes transmitted by thebase station as an interference source according to design pattern. Theconfiguration performed on ABSs includes configuring three parameters ofsilence ratio of ABS, transmission power reduction amount of ABS, anddesign pattern. In ABS, the transmission power of an interfering basestation is set to zero or other predetermined reduction amount accordingto configured parameters, thus to reduce interference on the edge userthat is not served by the interfering base station but is served by aninterfered base station, so as to improve the edge performance of theinterfered base station.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, the current ABS technology inevitably brings about loss oftotal throughput of the interfering base station when the edgeperformance of the interfered base station is improved. The current ABStechnology adopts an overall configuration scheme when configuringparameters of ABS, as a result, a better configuration can only berealized based on overall evaluation, and the ABS is not configuredaccording to specific situation, thus, a tradeoff between the edgeperformance of the interfered base station and the total throughput ofthe interfering base station is not made according to specificsituation.

Accordingly, there is a need to provide an apparatus for configuring ABSin a wireless communication heterogeneous network, a wirelesscommunication heterogeneous network, and a method for configuring ABS ina wireless communication heterogeneous network, thus to configure ABSaccording to specific situation, and make a tradeoff between the edgeperformance of the interfered base station and the total throughput ofthe interfering base station, so as to improve the overall performanceof the wireless communication heterogeneous network.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is providedan apparatus in a wireless communication heterogeneous network,comprising circuitry, configured to acquire first information associatedwith an indicator indicating communication quality of user terminalsserved by an interfering base station; acquire second informationassociated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of userterminals interfered by the interfering base station; and configure,based on the first information and the second information transmissionof the interfering base station for inter-base station coordination.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isfurther provided a wireless communication heterogeneous network,comprising: a first base station comprising a first informationacquisition unit and a configuration unit, and a second base stationcomprising a second information acquisition unit. The first informationacquisition unit is configured to acquire first information associatedwith an indicator indicating communication quality of user terminalsserved by the first base station. The second information acquisitionunit is configured to acquire second information associated with anindicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals served by thesecond base station and interfered by the first base station. Theconfiguration unit is configured to configure, based on the firstinformation and the second information, transmission of the interferingbase station for inter-base station coordination.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isfurther provided a wireless communication heterogeneous network,comprising: a first base station comprising a first informationacquisition unit and a second base station comprising a secondinformation acquisition unit and a configuration unit. The firstinformation acquisition unit is configured to acquire first informationassociated with an indicator indicating communication quality of userterminals served by the first base station. The second informationacquisition unit is configured to acquire second information associatedwith an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals servedby the second base station and interfered by the first base station. Theconfiguration unit is configured to configure, based on the firstinformation and the second information, transmission of the interferingbase station for inter-base station coordination.

According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, thereis further provided a method in a wireless communication network,comprising: acquiring first information associated with an indicatorindicating communication quality of a user terminal served by aninterfering base station; acquiring second information associated withan indicator indicating interfered degree of a user terminal interferedby the interfering base station; and configuring, based on the firstinformation and the second information, transmission of the interferingbase station for inter-base station coordination.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is providedanother an apparatus in a wireless communication network, comprisingcircuitry, configured to acquire Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP)of a reference signal from an interfering base station measured byinterfered user terminals served by the apparatus; and provideinformation associated with the RSRP via X2 interface to the interferingbase station for inter-base station coordination.

According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, thereis further provided a program causing a computer to execute thefollowing steps: acquiring first information associated with anindicator indicating communication quality of a user terminal served byan interfering base station; acquiring second information associatedwith an indicator indicating interfered degree of a user terminal andinterfered by the interfering base station; and configuring, based onthe first information and the second information, the ABS sent by theinterfering base station by adjusting at least one of silence ratio andpower reduction amount of ABS.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is furtherprovided a corresponding computer readable storage medium on which aprogram that can be executed by a computing device is stored, when beingexecuted, the program can cause the computing apparatus to execute theabove method.

The provided apparatus for configuring ABS in a wireless communicationheterogeneous network, the wireless communication heterogeneous network,and the method for configuring ABS in a wireless communicationheterogeneous network according to embodiments of the present disclosurecan configure the ABS according to specific situation, considering boththe performance of the user terminal served by the interfering basestation and the performance of the user terminal interfered with by theinterfering base station, thus to improve overall performance of thewireless communication heterogeneous network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the apparatusfor configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous networkaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the parametertable including predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratioand power reduction amount of ABS according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of theparameter table including predetermined parameter pairs consisted ofsilence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the wirelesscommunication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of thewireless communication heterogeneous network according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the method for configuring ABS in awireless communication heterogeneous network according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a specific applicationexample of the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating how to configure the ABS ofan interfering base station in the example of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating another specific applicationexample of the embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the hardwareconfiguration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and thus otherobjects, features, and advantages of the technique disclosed in thisspecification will become more apparent.

The following description will be performed in the following order:

1. Apparatus for configuring ABS in a wireless communicationheterogeneous network

2. Wireless communication heterogeneous network

3. Method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneousnetwork

4. Specific examples

5. Hardware configuration example

1. Apparatus for Configuring ABS in a Wireless CommunicationHeterogeneous Network

FIG. 1 illustrates apparatus 10 for configuring ABS in a wirelesscommunication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The apparatus 10 includes a first informationacquisition unit 101, a second information acquisition unit 102 and aconfiguration unit 103.

In addition, FIG. 1 illustrates an interfering base station 20, a userterminal 21 served by the interfering base station 20, a interfered userterminal 31, and a base station 30 that provides service to theinterfered user terminal 31. The interfering base station 20 and thebase station 30 serving the user terminal 31 constitute a heterogeneouswireless communication network. Herein, the term “heterogeneous network”refers to a network including different types of base stations, whichmay be a macro base station, home base station, pico (Pico) basestation, or other suitable type of base station.

It should be noted that, the user terminal 21 served by the interferingbase station 20 may be one or more terminals, and are referredcollectively as the user terminal 21 herein. Similarly, the interfereduser terminal 31 may be one or more terminals, and are referredcollectively as the user terminal 31. The user terminal may be a mobilephone, notebook computer, desktop personal computer or other suitabletype of user terminal having a communication function.

The first information acquisition unit 101 is configured to acquire afirst information, the first information is associated with an indicatorindicating the communication quality of the user terminal 21, and canbe, for example, the indicator indicating the communication quality ofthe user terminal 21 itself or a value obtained based on the indicator.

The second information acquisition unit 102 is configured to acquire asecond information, the second information is associated with anindicator indicating the interfered degree of the user terminal 31, andcan be, for example, the indicator indicating the interfered degree ofthe user terminal 31 itself or a value obtained based on the indicator.

The configuration unit 103 is configured to configure, based on thefirst information and the second information, the ABS sent by theinterfering base station 20 by adjusting at least one of silence ratioand power reduction amount of ABS

Those skilled in the art should understand that, the apparatus 10 can bedisposed independently of the interfering base station 20 and the basestation 30, or can be disposed inside the interfering base station 20 orthe base station 30, in addition, a part of the apparatus 10 can bedisposed in the interfering base station 20, and the other part of theapparatus 10 can be disposed in the base station 30. Furthermore, theentire apparatus 10 can be disposed in the interfering base station 20,wherein, the second information acquisition unit 102 acquires the secondinformation through the communication between the interfering basestation 20 and the base station 30 via X2 interface, for example. Asanother possible way, the entire apparatus 10 can be disposed in thebase station 30, wherein, the first information acquisition unit 101acquires the first information through the communication between theinterfering base station 20 and the base station 30 via X2 interface,for example, and the configuration unit 103 performs configuration onABS sent by the interfering base station 20 through the communicationbetween the interfering base station 20 and the base station 30 via X2interface, for example. Therefore, a base station comprising theapparatus 10 is disclosed according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Preferably, the indicator indicating the communication quality of theuser terminal 21 can be associated with at least one of the ReferenceSignal Receiving Power (RSRP), the communication quality indicator(CQI), the Reference Signal Receiving Power based on the channel stateinformation (CSI-RSRP), and the coupling loss of link when the userterminal 21 is receiving the signal from the interfering base station20. In other words, the indicator can be associated with only one of theReference Signal Receiving Power, the communication quality indicator,the Reference Signal Receiving Power based on the channel stateinformation, and the coupling loss of link when the user terminal 21 isreceiving the signal from the interfering base station 20, or can beassociated with any number of them, for example, it can be a weightedsum of a plurality of the parameters.

It should be noted that, the indicator indicating the communicationquality of the user terminal 21 can be associated with the ReferenceSignal Receiving Power in the previous versions of 3GPP Release 10, forexample, the Reference Signal herein may be a cell-specific referencesignal (CRS). However, since the usage of reception power with respectto the cell-specific reference signal cannot satisfy the channelmeasurement in heterogeneous network scenarios in 3GPP Release 10 andlater versions and in the new carrier type, the indicator indicating thecommunication quality of the user terminal 21 can be associated with theReference Signal Receiving Power based on the channel state informationin these scenarios.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the indicator indicatingthe communication quality of the user terminal 21 can also be associatedwith other suitable parameters.

Additionally, the indicator indicating the communication quality of theuser terminal 21 can be measured by the user terminal 21 and provided tothe interfering base station 20. The interfering base station 20provides the first information associated with the indicator to theconfiguration unit 103. Specially, when the configuration unit 103 isdisposed in the base station 30, the interfering base station 20provides the first information to the configuration unit 103 through thecommunication between base stations via X2 interface, for example.

Those skilled in the art should understand that, the indicatorindicating the communication quality of the user terminal 21 can also bemeasured in other ways, for example, be measured by the interfering basestation 20.

Preferably, the indicator indicating interfered degree of the userterminal 31 can be associated with at least one of the Reference SignalReceiving Power, the communication quality indicator, the ReferenceSignal Receiving Power based on the channel state information, and thecoupling loss of link when the user terminal 31 is receiving the signalfrom the interfering base station 20. In other words, the indicator canbe associated with only one of the Reference Signal Receiving Power, thecommunication quality indicator, the Reference Signal Receiving Powerbased on the channel state information, and the coupling loss of linkwhen the user terminal 31 is receiving the signal from the interferingbase station 20, or can be associated with any number of them, forexample, can be a weighted sum of a plurality of parameters.

As mentioned above, the indicator indicating interfered degree of theuser terminal 31 can be associated with the Reference Signal ReceivingPower. In 3GPP Release 10 and later versions, and in the new carriertype, the indicator indicating interfered degree of the user terminal 31can be associated with the Reference Signal Receiving Power based on thechannel state information.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the indicator indicatinginterfered degree of the user terminal 31 can also be associated withother suitable parameters.

Additionally, the indicator indicating interfered degree of the userterminal 31 can be measured by the user terminal 31 and provided to thebase station 30. The base station 30 provides the second informationassociated with the indicator to the configuration unit 103. Especially,when the configuration unit 103 is disposed in the interfering basestation 20, the base station 30 provides the second information to theconfiguration unit 103 through the communication between base stationsvia X2 interface, for example.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the indicator indicatingthe interfered degree of the user terminal 31 can also be measured inother ways, for example, can be measured by the base station 30.

Preferably, the configuration unit 103 is further configured toconfigure the ABS sent by the interfering base station 20 by performingselection in the parameter table including the predetermined parameterpairs consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.

Specifically, in case that the power reduction amount of ABS isunchanged, when the silence ratio of ABS is increased, the totalthroughput of the interfering base station 20 is reduced and theperformance of edge user that is interfered with by the interfering basestation 20 and served by the base station 30 (that is, the edgeperformance of the base station 30) is improved, and vice versa.Furthermore, in case that the silence ratio of ABS is unchanged, whenthe power reduction amount of ABS is increased, the total throughput ofthe interfering base station 20 is reduced, and the edge performance ofthe base station 30 is improved, and vice versa.

The total throughput of the interfering base station 20 and the edgeperformance of the base station 30 can be configured by appropriatelysetting predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio andpower reduction amount of ABS, so as to improve the total performance ofthe wireless communication heterogeneous network.

The configuration unit 103 can configure the ABS sent by the interferingbase station 20 in other ways, for example, changing one of silenceratio and power reduction amount of ABS at the same time when the otheris not changed, that is, either one of silence ratio and power reductionamount of ABS is adjusted.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 illustrate two examples of parameter table includingpredetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and powerreduction amount of ABS.

In the parameter table illustrated in FIG. 2, eight pairs of parametersare schematically illustrated, wherein, the higher the silence ratio is,the smaller the power reduction amount is, whereas, the lower thesilence ratio is, the larger the power reduction amount is. When thesilence ratio is 100%, the power reduction amount of ABS is 0, at thistime, all sent by the interfering base station 20 are ABS, and no normalsubframe is sent, therefore, the user terminal 21 is not served. Whenthe silence ratio is 12.5%, the power reduction amount of ABS is loweredto 0 (ie., “zero power” in the rightmost of the first line of the tablein FIG. 2). When the power of ABS sent by the interfering base station20 is lowered to 0, the ABS sent by the interfering base station 20 willnot interfered substantially by the subframe sent from the base station30 in the same time period, such that the edge performance of the basestation 30 can be improved better in case that the silence ratio of ABSis unchanged.

Those skilled in the art should understand that, the parameter table inpractical application can be designed according to design requirement,including other number of parameter pair.

It should be noted that, in the parameter pair shown in FIG. 2, settingthe parameter pair consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amountto a parameter pair with smaller silence ratio and larger powerreduction amount will make the edge performance of the base station 30better and the total throughput of the interfering base station 20smaller. However, those skilled in the art can appropriately set thepredetermined parameter pair consisted of silence ratio and powerreduction amount of ABS according to specific network scenario. Forexample, two parameter pairs are set to have big difference betweentheir silence ratios while have small difference between their powerreduction amounts, therefore, in some network scenarios, the parameterpair with smaller silence ratio and slightly larger power reductionamount is adopted such that the edge performance of the base station 30is slightly poor and the total throughput of the interfering basestation 20 is larger. In addition, in case that the total throughput ofthe interfering base station 20 and the edge performance of the basestation 30 are required to be varied in a larger range, the parameterpair can be set such that the larger the silence ratio is, the largerthe power reduction amount is, therefore, the parameter pair with largersilence ratio and larger power reduction amount can greatly improve theedge performance of the base station 30 and lower the total throughputof the interfering base station 20.

In the parameter table illustrated in FIG. 3, eight pairs of parametersare schematically illustrated, wherein, similar to FIG. 2, the higherthe silence ratio is, the smaller the power reduction amount is, andconversely, the lower the silence ratio is, the larger the powerreduction amount is. When the silence ratio is 80%, the power reductionamount of ABS is 0. When the silence ratio is 10%, the power reductionamount of ABS is lowered to 0 (ie., “zero power” in the rightmost of thefirst line of the table in FIG. 3). The parameter table illustrated inFIG. 3 can be applied to, for example, the scenario where theinterfering base station 20 is a macro base station and the base station30 is a pico base station. In the scenario, the ratio by which the macrobase station sends ABS cannot reach 100%, otherwise, the macro basestation which is the main serving base station of the heterogeneousnetwork cannot work normally. Those skilled in the art can set parameterpairs correspondingly according to features of other applicationscenarios, especially, the type of the interfering base station. Inother words, the above parameter pair is determined from the type of theinterfering base station.

Preferably, the configuration unit 103 can be configured to compare thefirst information and the second information with the first referencerange including the lower limit of the communication quality of the userterminal 21 and the second reference range including the upper limit ofthe interfered degree of the user terminal 31, respectively, and the ABSsent by the interfering base station 20 is configured according to theresult of comparison between the first information and the firstreference range and the result of comparison between the secondinformation and the second reference range, in such a manner that thefirst information and the second information are within the firstreference range and the second reference range respectively.

Furthermore, the configuration unit 103 can be configured to adjust thefirst reference range and the second reference range according toindicators indicating characteristics of the user terminal 21 and theuser terminal 31, so as to configure the ABS sent from the interferingbase station according to the result of comparison between the firstinformation and the first reference range and the result of comparisonbetween the second information and the second reference range.

In other words, the first reference range and the second reference rangecan be set respectively for the first information and the secondinformation, the ABS is configured such that the first information andthe second information is maintained in the first reference range andthe second reference range respectively, so the configuration on ABS canbe performed according to specific situation. The first reference rangeand the second reference range can be adjusted according to theindicator indicating characteristics of the user terminal 21 and theuser terminal 31, such that a tradeoff between the total throughput ofthe interfering base station 20 and the edge performance of the basestation 30 can be made according to specific situation. Furthermore, thereference range can be adjusted according to other suitable indicators,or can be set to a fixed reference range.

Not only the first reference range and the second reference range can beset respectively with respect to the first information and the secondinformation, but also a common reference range can be set with respectto an amount relevant to the first information and the secondinformation, for example, a common reference range can be set withrespect to the weighted sum of the first information and the secondinformation.

Furthermore, when the reference range is adjusted according to aboveindicators, the reference range for the first information and thereference range for the second information can be adjusted according toabove indicators respectively, and the reference range for both thefirst information and the second information can be adjusted accordingto above indicators.

As for those skilled in the art, the ABS can be configured based on thefirst information, the second information, and the indicators indicatingcharacteristics of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31 bysuitable ways other than the way of setting the reference range for thefirst information and the second information, so as to make a tradeoffbetween the total throughput of the interfering base station 20 and theedge performance of the base station 30 according to specific situation.For example, a reference range can be set for the weighted sum of thefirst information, the second information, and the indicator indicatingcharacteristics of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31, andthe ABS is configured in such a manner that the weighted sum ismaintained in the reference range.

The indicator indicating characteristics of the user terminal 21 and theuser terminal 31 is associated with at least one of the amount of theuser terminal 21, the amount of the user terminal 31, the traffic amountof the user terminal 21, and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31.In other words, the indicator indicating characteristics of the userterminal 21 and the user terminal 31 can be associated with only one ofthe amount of the user terminal 21, the amount of the user terminal 31,the traffic amount of the user terminal 21, and the traffic amount ofthe user terminal 31, or can be associated with any number of them. Aspecific example of the indicator indicating characteristics of the userterminal 21 and the user terminal 31 will be present subsequently.

The configuration unit 103 determines how to make a tradeoff between theedge performance of the base station 30 and the total throughput of theinterfering base station 20 according to the indicator. In other words,the configuration unit 103 determines how to configure the ABS of theinterfering base station 20 according to the indicator, thus to make atradeoff between the total throughput of the interfering base station 20and the edge performance of the base station 30 according to specificsituation.

For example, the indicator can be associated with the amount of the userterminal 21, and when the amount of the user terminal 21 is increased,the ABS of the interfering base station 20 is configured in moreconsideration of the total throughput of the interfering base station20. The indicator can also be associated with the amount of the userterminal 31, and when the amount of the user terminal 31 is increased,the ABS of the interfering base station 20 is configured in moreconsideration of the edge performance of the base station 30.

The indicator can also be associated with the relationship between theamount of the user terminal 21 and the amount of the user terminal 31,that is, the indicator can be associated with both the amount of theuser terminal 21 and the amount of the user terminal 31. For example,when the ratio between the amount of the user terminal 21 and the amountof the user terminal 31 is increased, the ABS of the interfering basestation 20 is configured in more consideration of the edge performanceof the base station 30.

In other words, in the case that the indicator indicating thecharacteristic of the user terminal 31 and the user terminal 21 ispositive correlated to the ratio of the amount of the user terminals 31to the amount of the user terminals 21, the configuration unit 130 canbe configured to decrease the lower limit of the communication qualityof the user terminals 21 included in the first reference range and todecrease the upper limit of the interfered degree of the user terminals31 included in the second reference range, when the indicator isincreased.

Similarly, the indicator can be associated with the traffic amount ofthe user terminal 21, and when the traffic amount of the user terminal21 is increased, the ABS of the interfering base station 20 isconfigured in more consideration of the total throughput. The indicatorcan also be associated with the traffic amount of the user terminal 31,and when the traffic amount of the user terminal 31 is increased, theABS of the interfering base station 20 is configured in moreconsideration of the edge performance of the base station 30.

The indicator can also be associated with the relationship between thetraffic amount of the user terminal 21 and the traffic amount of theuser terminal 31, that is, it is associated with both the traffic amountof the user terminal 21 and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31.For example, when the ratio between the traffic amount of the userterminal 21 and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31 is lager, theABS of the interfering base station 20 is configured in moreconsideration of the edge performance of the base station 30.

In other words, in the case that the indicator indicating thecharacteristic of the user terminal 31 and the user terminal 21 ispositive correlated to the ratio of the traffic amount of the userterminals 31 to the traffic amount of the user terminals 21, theconfiguration unit 130 can be configured to decrease the lower limit ofthe communication quality of the user terminals 21 included in the firstreference range, and to decrease the upper limit of the interfereddegree of the user terminals 31 included in the second reference range,when the indicator is increased.

Of course, the indicator can also be associated with all of the amountof the user terminal 21, the amount of the user terminal 31, the trafficamount of the user terminal 21, and the traffic amount of the userterminal 31, for example, the indicator can be a weighted sum of theratio between the amount of the user terminal 21 and the amount of theuser terminal 31 and the ratio between the traffic amount of the userterminal 2 l and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31.

Those skilled in the art should understand that, the indicator can alsobe associated with at least one of the amount of the user terminal 21,the amount of the user terminal 31, the traffic amount of the userterminal 21, and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31 according toother suitable manners, so as to make a tradeoff between the totalthroughput of the interfering base station 20 and the edge performanceof the base station 30 according to specific situation through theindicator.

Furthermore, the indicator can also be associated with other suitableamounts that can indicate characteristics of the user terminal 21 andthe user terminal 31, for example, be associated with the importance orthe priority of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31, so as tomake a tradeoff between the total throughput of the interfering basestation 20 and the edge performance of the base station 30 according tospecific situation through the indicator.

When the configuration unit 103 is disposed in the base station 30, theconfiguration unit 103 provides the information associated with theconfiguration scheme to the interfering base station 20 through thecommunication between the base stations via X2 interface, for example.Such as, the specific value of the selected parameter pair is providedto the interfering base station 20, or in the case that the parameterpair table is stored in the interfering base station 20, the number ofthe selected parameter pair is provided to the interfering base station20. Furthermore, in the case that the parameter pair table (for example,the table illustrated in FIG. 2) is stored in the interfering basestation 20, the relative position of the selected parameter pairrelative to the parameter pair currently used by the interfering basestation 20 is sent to the interfering base station 20, for example, theinformation indicating that the parameter pair will be shifted by oneposition in the direction in which the power reduction amount isrelatively large and the silence ratio is relatively small is sent.

Configuring ABS can be performed periodically, or be performed in othersuitable way, for example, be performed according to event trigger. Apossible scenario performed according to event trigger is, when theinterfering base station 20 detects that the change of the amount of theuser terminals or the traffic amount satisfies a predeterminedcondition, the ABS is reconfigured.

When the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS isadjusted periodically according to the variation amount of the firstinformation, in order to prevent the “ping-pong effect” (that is, whenthe above parameters of the ABS are adjusted towards the firstdirection, the above parameters of the ABS are re-adjusted towards thesecond direction opposite to the first direction because of thecorresponding variation of the first information or the secondinformation, and after that, because of the corresponding variation ofthe first information or the second information, the above parameters ofthe ABS needs to be adjusted towards the first direction again, and theprocess may be circled many times), the silence ratio and the powerreduction amount of the ABS are not adjusted when the variation amountof the first information is small than a predetermined threshold.

Similarly, when the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of theABS is adjusted periodically according to the variation amount of thesecond information, in order to prevent the “ping-pong effect”, thesilence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS are not adjustedwhen the variation amount of the second information is small than apredetermined threshold.

It should be noted that, the predetermined threshold set for the firstinformation and the predetermined threshold set for the secondinformation may be the same or different. Furthermore, the threshold canbe set with respect to the relative variation amount of the firstinformation and the second information, or be set with respect to theabsolute variation amount of the first information and the secondinformation.

Those skilled in the art can also adopt other ways to decrease thesensitivity of triggering reconfiguration of the ABS, thus to preventthe “ping-pong effect”. For example, the sensitivity of adjusting theabove parameters of the ABS towards one direction can be made differentwith the sensitivity of adjusting the above parameters of the ABStowards another direction, so as to prevent repetitive adjustment of theabove parameters.

2. Wireless Communication Heterogeneous Network

FIG. 4 illustrates the wireless communication heterogeneous network 100according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.2, the network 100 comprises a first base station 120 and a second basestation 130. The first base station 120 comprises a first informationacquisition unit 122 and a configuration unit 123. The second basestation 130 comprises a second information acquisition unit 132. In thesystem 100, the first base station 120 is an interfering base station,the user terminals served by the first base station 120 are referred tocollectively as the user terminal 121, the user terminals served by thesecond base station 130 and interfered by the first base station 120 arereferred to collectively as the user terminal 131. Similarly to theexample of FIG. 1, the user terminal 121 and the user terminal 131 maybe one or more user terminals respectively.

The first information acquisition unit 122 is configured to acquire thefirst information, the first information is associated with theindicator indicating the communication quality of the user terminal 121.

The second information acquisition unit 132 is configured to acquire thesecond information, the second information is associated with theindicator indicating the interfered degree of the user terminal 131interfered by the first base station 120.

The configuration unit 123 is configured to configure, based on thefirst information and the second information, the ABS sent by the firstbase station 120 by adjusting at least one of the silence ratio and thepower reduction amount of the ABS.

The first base station 120 may be a home base station, while the secondbase station 130 may be a macro base station. Also, the first basestation 120 may be a macro base station, while the second base station130 may be a pico base station. The second base station 130 can providethe second information to the first base station 120 through the X2interface.

FIG. 5 illustrates the wireless communication heterogeneous network 200according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.5, the network 200 comprises a first base station 220 and a second basestation 230. The first base station 220 comprises a first informationacquisition unit 222. The second base station 230 comprises a secondinformation acquisition unit 232 and a configuration unit 233. In thesystem 200, the first base station 220 is an interfering base station,the user terminals served by the first base station 220 are referred tocollectively as the user terminal 221, the user terminals served by thesecond base station 230 and interfered by the first base station 220 arereferred to collectively as the user terminal 231. Similarly to examplesof FIGS. 1 and 4, the user terminal 221 and the user terminal 231 may beone or more user terminals respectively.

The first information acquisition unit 222 is configured to acquire thefirst information, the first information is associated with theindicator indicating the communication quality of the user terminal 221.

The second information acquisition unit 232 is configured to acquire thesecond information, the second information is associated with theindicator indicating the interfered degree of the user terminal 231interfered by the first base station 220.

The configuration unit 233 is configured to configure, based on thefirst information and the second information, the ABS sent by the firstbase station 220 by adjusting at least one of the silence ratio and thepower reduction amount of the ABS.

If the first base station 220 is a home base station and the second basestation 230 is a macro base station, the second base station 230 mayprovide the second information to the first base station 220 through theX2 interface, and the configuration unit 233 of the second base station230 may configure the ABS sent by the first base station 220 through theX2 interface.

If the first base station 220 is a macro base station and the secondbase station 230 is a pico base station, the second base station 230 mayprovide the second information to the first base station 220 through theX2 interface, and the configuration unit 233 of the second base station230 may configure the ABS sent by the first base station 220 through theX2 interface.

3. Method for Configuring ABS in a Wireless Communication HeterogeneousNetwork

FIG. 6 illustrates the method for configuring ABS in a wirelesscommunication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

The above method begins at step S102.

In step S104, the first information associated with the indicatorindicating the communication quality of the user terminal served by theinterfering base station is acquired. For example, the step can beperformed by the first information acquisition unit 101, 122 or 222.

In step S106, the second information associated with the indicatorindicating the interfered degree of the user terminal interfered with bythe interfering base station is acquired. For example, the step can beperformed by the second information acquisition unit 102, 132 or 232.

In step S108, the ABS is configured, based on the first information andthe second information, by adjusting at least one of the silence ratioand the power reduction amount of the ABS. For example, the step can beperformed by the configuration unit 103, 123 or 233.

Subsequently, the process is ended at step S110.

It should be noted that, step S104 is not necessary to be performedbefore step S106, for example, step S106 may be performed before stepS104, or, step S104 and step S106 may be performed in parallel.

4. Specific Examples

In the following, an implementation of embodiments of the presentdisclosure will be described in detail through more specific example.

FIG. 7 illustrates the scenario in which a macro base station and a homebase station coexist. In the scenario, the home base station 320, 330(as the interfering base station) that only serve users in a closed userlist bring interference to the user terminal 341 of the macro basestation 340.

Those skilled in the art should understand that, different base stationswill interfere with each other, for example, a possible situation isthat a macro base station 340 brings interference to the home basestation 320 or 330. Those skilled in the art can select the way ofsending ABS according to specific situation to restrain interferencebetween base stations.

Through the description on the examples shown in FIG. 7, those skilledin the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the presentdisclosure can be embodied with respect to the wireless communicationheterogeneous network including one or more interfering base stations.Wherein, with respect to individual interfering base station, the ABSsof all interfering base stations can be configured respectively by themethod according to embodiments of the present disclosure, or, only theABS of one or more interfering base stations can be configuredrespectively by the method according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

The macro base station 340 provides services to a plurality of userterminals 341, the user terminals 341 comprise the user terminal 341 aand the user terminal 341 b, wherein, the position of the user terminal341 a is close to the home base station 320 and is not within the userlist of the home base station 320, therefore, the user terminal 341 a isinterfered by the home base station 320. While the position of the userterminal 341 b is close to the home base station 330 and is not withinthe user list of the home base station 330, therefore, the user terminal341 b is interfered by the home base station 330.

It should be noted that, although one user terminal 341 a and two userterminals 341 b are illustrated in FIG. 7, those skilled in the artshould understand that, the user terminal 341 a and 341 b may be one ormore user terminals respectively.

The home base station 320 provides services to the user terminal 321 inthe user list thereof, and the home base station 330 provides servicesto the user terminal 331 in the user list thereof. Those skilled in theart should understand that, the user terminal 321 and the user terminal331 may be one or more user terminals respectively.

For the purpose of clarity, in FIG. 7, a solid line with an arrowrepresents that a base station provides services to the user terminal,and a broken line with an arrow represents that a base station bringsinterference on the user terminal.

Those skilled in the art should understand that, the apparatus 10 inFIG. 1 may be included in the macro base station 340, or be included inthe home base station 320 or 330. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, thehome base station 320 and/or 330 as the interfering base stationcomprises the first information acquisition unit 122 and theconfiguration unit 123, and the macro base station 340 comprises thesecond information acquisition unit 132, or as shown in FIG. 5, the homebase station 320 and/or 330 as the interfering base station comprisesthe first information acquisition unit 222, and the macro base station340 comprises the second information acquisition unit 232 and theconfiguration unit 233.

The macro base station 340 sends subframes according to a design pattern343, and it is observed from FIG. 7 that the subframes sent by the macrobase station 340 are all normal subframes. The home base station 320sends subframes according to a design pattern 322, and it is observedfrom FIG. 7 that the home base station 320 sends one ABS each time whensending four normal subframes. The home base station 330 sends subframesaccording to a design pattern 332, and it is observed from FIG. 7 thatthe home base station 330 sends four ABSs each time when sending onenormal subframe.

With respect to different home base stations, different lists includingparameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount ofABS can be used. For example, in the design patterns 322 and 332, thepower of a subframe is schematically represented by the height of thesubframe. It is observed from FIG. 7 that, the silence ratio of the ABSof the design pattern 322 is lower than that of the ABS of the designpattern 332, meanwhile, the power reduction amount of the ABS of thedesign pattern 322 compared to a normal subframe is smaller than that ofthe ABS of the design pattern 332. This means that, the parameter pairsfor configuring the ABS of the home base station 320 and the parameterpairs for configuring the ABS of the home base station 330 come fromdifferent lists, because in the same list, the higher the silence ratiois, the lower the power reduction amount is.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the silence ratioand the power reduction amount by which the home base station 320 sendsABS and the silence ratio and the power reduction amount by which thehome base station 330 sends ABS may be the parameter pairs in the listsshown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3.

In the following, a specific example of the method by which the homebase station 320 sending ABS is periodically configured in the exampleshown in FIG. 7 is described in conjunction with FIG. 8.

Although the method shown in FIG. 8 is for the situation in which thehome base station 320 is taken as the interfering base station, it canalso be applied to the situation in which other base station (forexample, the home base station 330) is taken as the interfering basestation. Further, the method shown in FIG. 8 can be applied to thescenario in which other type of base stations constitute a wirelesscommunication heterogeneous network, for example, the scenario in whichthe macro base station and the pico base station coexist, and theinterfering base station is a macro base station, as shown in FIG. 9.

Furthermore, although the method shown in FIG. 8 is for the situation ofconfiguring periodically, it can also be applied to the situation ofconfiguring by other way.

In step S201, the home base station 320 sets the predetermined signalindicator S₀ and the predetermined interfering indicator I₀, and theparameter list comprising parameters for configuring the macro basestation 330 to send ABS, such as the parameter list shown in FIG. 2. S₀is used to represent the predetermined lower limit of the performance ofreceiving services by the user terminal 321 in the home base station320, and I₀ is used to represent the predetermined upper limit of theinterfered degree of the user terminal 341 a interfered by the home basestation 320 in the macro base station 340.

In step S202, the total traffic amount T_(non-interfered UE) of the userterminal 321 served by the home base station 320 is calculated, and thetotal traffic amount T_(interfered) _(_) _(UE) of the user terminal 341a served by the macro base station 340 and interfered by the home basestation 320 is calculated, further, the ratio between the total trafficamount of the interfered user and the total traffic amount of theun-interfered user is calculated as the relative traffic amount T_(r),referring to equation 1:

$\begin{matrix}{T_{r} = \frac{\sum T_{interfered\_ UE}}{\sum T_{{non}\text{-}{interfered\_ UE}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

In step S203, if the traffic amount T_(r) is increased, it isrepresented that the edge performance of the macro base station 340should be more valued, the requirement on the edge performance of themacro base station 340 should be improved, and the requirement on thetotal throughput of the home base station 320 should be properlydecreased, so as to decrease the predetermined signal indicator S₀ andthe predetermined interfering indicator I₀.

If the traffic amount T_(r) is decreased, it is represented that thetotal throughput of the home base station 320 should be more valued, therequirement on the total throughput of the home base station 320 shouldbe improved, and the requirement on the edge performance of the macrobase station 340 should be properly decreased, so as to increase thepredetermined signal indicator S₀ and the predetermined interferingindicator I₀.

The relationship between the specific decreasing amount and increasingamount of the predetermined signal indicator S₀ and the predeterminedinterfering indicator I₀ and the relative traffic amount T_(r) can becalculated according to a particular function. For example, an exampleassociation way is that the relationship between the specific decreasingamount and increasing amount of the predetermined signal indicator S₀and the predetermined interfering indicator I₀ and the relative trafficamount T_(r) are linear negative correlated.

In step S202, also, the amount n1 of the user terminals 321 served bythe home base station 320 can be calculated, the amount n2 of the userterminals 341 a served by the macro base station 340 and interfered bythe home base station 320 can be calculated, so that the quantity ratiobetween the amount of the interfered user and the amount of theun-interfered user can be calculated as the relative quantity a.

Correspondingly, in step S203, if the relative quantity a is increased,it is represented that the edge performance of the macro base station340 should be more valued, the requirement on the edge performance ofthe macro base station 340 should be improved, and the requirement onthe total throughput of the home base station 320 should be properlydecreased, so as to decrease the predetermined signal indicator S₀ andthe predetermined interfering indicator I₀.

If the relative quantity a is decreased, it is represented that thetotal throughput of the home base station 320 should be more valued, therequirement on the total throughput of the home base station 320 shouldbe improved, and the requirement on the edge performance of the macrobase station 340 should be properly decreased, so as to increase thepredetermined signal indicator S₀ and the predetermined interferingindicator I₀.

The relationship between the specific decreasing amount and increasingamount of the predetermined signal indicator S₀ and the predeterminedinterfering indicator I₀ and the relative quantity a can be calculatedaccording to a particular function. For example, an example associationway is that the relationship between the specific decreasing amount andincreasing amount of the predetermined signal indicator S₀ and thepredetermined interfering indicator I0 and the relative quantity a islinear negative correlated.

The processes of steps S201-S203 can be executed by the aforementionedconfiguration unit 103, 123 or 233.

In step S204, each user terminal 321 of the home base station 320measures the received signal from the home base station 320, and reportsto the home base station 320 the indicator indicating the communicationquality of the user terminal 321 served by the home base station 320,the indicator may include, for example, the reference signal receptionpower (may be RSRP for the previous versions of 3GPP Release 10, or maybe CSI-RSRP for 3GPP Release 10 and later versions) and the indicatorindicating the communication quality when receiving signals from thehome base station 320. In a TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution)system, the indicator can also include coupling loss of link parameter.The indicator can be provided to the above first information acquisitionunit 101, 122 or 222 by the home base station 320.

Furthermore, the indicator indicating the communication quality of theuser terminal 321 served by the home base station 320 can includes, forexample, the ratio between the reference signal reception power of theuser terminal 321 for the home base station 320 and the sum of thereference signal reception powers of the user terminal 321 for all basestations. The indicator may also be the weighted sum of the includedparameters.

In step S205, each user terminal 341 of the macro base station 340measures the received signals of all base stations, if the case is thatthe reference signal reception power with respect to the base stationother than the macro base station 340 is greater than the referencesignal reception power with respect to the macro base station 340 by acertain preset percentage (for example, 50%), the user terminal isrecognized as the user terminal being interfered by the base stationother than the macro base station 340. Thereby, the user terminals 341a, 341 b that are interfered by the home base station 320 can berecognized from the user terminals 341 served by the macro base station340. The interfered user terminals 341 a, 341 b may both be one or moreuser terminals. The recognized user terminals 341 a that is interferedby the home base station 320 reports the indicator indicating theinterfered degree of the user terminals 341 a to the macro base station340, the indicator may include, for example, the reference signalreception power and the communication quality indicator of the home basestation 320. In a TD-LTE system, the indicator can also include couplingloss of link parameter. The indicator can be provided to the abovesecond information acquisition unit 102, 132 or 232 by the macro basestation 340.

Furthermore, the indicator indicating the interfered degree of the userterminal 341 a interfered by the home base station 320 may include, forexample, the ratio between the reference signal reception power of theuser terminal 341 a for the home base station 320 and the sum of thereference signal reception powers of the user terminal 341 a for allbase stations. The indicator may also be the weighted sum of theincluded parameters.

In step S206, the signal indicator S as an example of the firstinformation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure iscalculated based on the indicator indicating the communication qualityof the user terminal 321 served by the home base station 320 acquired instep S204. Specially, when the indicators indicating the communicationquality of respective user terminals 321 are provided respectively by aplurality of user terminals 321, the weighted sum of these indicatorscan be obtained as the indicator S according to the importance ofrespective user terminals 321, or the average value of these indicatorscan be obtained as the indicator S, or the indicator S can be calculatedby other suitable ways. The process can be executed by theaforementioned first information acquisition unit 101, 122 or 222.

Furthermore, in step S206, the interference indicator I as an example ofthe second information according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure is calculated based on the indicator indicating theinterfered degree of the user terminal 341 a interfered by the home basestation 320 acquired in step S205. Specially, when the indicatorsindicating the interfered degree of respective user terminals 341 a areprovided respectively by a plurality of user terminals 341 a, theweighted sum of these indicators can be obtained as the indicator Iaccording to the importance of respective user terminals 341 a, or theaverage value of these indicators can be obtained as the indicator I, orthe indicator I can be calculated by other suitable ways. The processcan be executed by the aforementioned second information acquisitionunit 101, 122 or 222.

In step S207, a comparison is made between the signal indicator S andthe predetermined signal indicator S₀, if S<S₀, the ABS sent by the homebase station 320 is configured by selecting a parameter pair consistedof larger silence ratio and smaller power reduction amount from theparameter table in step S208, so as to improve the total throughput ofthe home base station 320. It should be noted that, the descriptionherein is made by taking the parameter pair list in FIG. 2 as anexample. As mention above, in the parameter pair table shown in in FIG.2, the parameter pair consisted of smaller silence ratio and largerpower reduction amount may result in better edge performance of themacro base station 340 and smaller total throughput of the home basestation 320.

Similarly, in step S207, a comparison is made between the interferenceindicator I and the predetermined interference indicator I₀, if I>I₀,the ABS sent by the home base station 320 is configured by selecting aparameter pair consisted of smaller silence ratio and larger powerreduction amount from the parameter table in step S208, so as to improvethe edge performance of the macro base station 340.

If S≥S₀ and I≤I₀, that is, the signal indicator S is equal or greaterthan the predetermined signal indicator S₀ which is the lower limit ofthe signal indicator S and the interference indicator I is less than orequal to the predetermined interference indicator I₀ which is the upperlimit of the interference indicator I, the parameters of the ABS is notadjusted. At this time, the predetermined signal indicator S₀ and thepredetermined interference indicator I₀ may be properly adjusted asrequired, so as to put forward higher requirements to the totalthroughput of the home base station 320 and the edge performance of themacro base station 340.

If S<S₀ and I>I₀, it is represented that neither the total throughput ofthe home base station 320 nor the edge performance of the macro basestation 340 could satisfy the predetermined requirements. At this time,the predetermined signal indicator S₀ and the predetermined interferenceindicator I₀ may be properly adjusted as required, so as to decreaserequirements on the total throughput of the home base station 320 andthe edge performance of the macro base station 340. Since this case maybe result from failure, an error message may be sent in this case.

The processes of steps S207 and S208 can be executed by theaforementioned configuration unit 103, 123 or 233.

When step S208 is done, the process may proceed to the next period.

It should be noted that, in order to prevent the aforementioned“ping-pong effect” when configuring the ABS, the comparison between thesignal indicator S and the predetermined signal indicator S0 may not bemade when the variation amount of the signal indicator S is less than apredetermined value (for example, less than 5%), so that the silenceratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS may not be not adjusted.Similarly, when the variation amount of the interference indicator I isless than a predetermined value (for example, less than 5%), thecomparison between the interference indicator I and the predeterminedinterference indicator I0 may not be made, so that the silence ratio andthe power reduction amount of the ABS may not be adjusted. In this case,to prevent the situation in which the signal indicator S or theinterference indicator I continuously change with a variation amountless than a predetermined threshold, resulting in a large accumulatedvariation amount, such that the configuration with respect to thesilence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS remainsunchanged, it may be set that, when the variation amount of theinterference indicator I or the signal indicator S is continuously lessthan a predetermined threshold for predetermined times (for example, 5times), a comparison is made between the interference indicator I andthe predetermined interference indicator I0 or between the signalindicator S and the predetermined signal indicator S0

Furthermore, as mentioned above, the “ping-pong effect” when configuringthe ABS may be prevented by adopting other suitable mechanism.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of the embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In this scenario, the macro base station 420 and the picobase station 430, 440 coexist. As an interfering base station, the macrobase station 420 brings interference on the user terminals 431 a, 431 b,441 a and 441 b of the pico base station 430, 440.

The macro base station 420 provides services to the user terminal 421,the pico base station 430 provides services to the user terminal 431 aand 431 b, and the pico base station 440 provides services to the userterminal 441 a and 441 b.

Since the pico base station 430, 440 and the macro base station 420 alladopt an open user access manner, the macro base station 420 may bringinterference on the user terminal 431 a of the pico base station 430 andthe user terminal 441 a of the pico base station 440 in the edge regionof the pico base station 430, 440.

Similar to FIG. 7, in FIG. 9, a solid line with an arrow represents thata base station provides services to the user terminal, and a broken linewith an arrow represents that a base station brings interference on theuser terminal.

Those skill in the art should understand that, different base stationsmay interfere with each other, for example, a possible situation is thatthe pico base station 430, 440 bring interference on the macro basestation 420. Those skilled in the art can select the way of sending ABSaccording to specific situation to restrain interference between basestations.

As shown in FIG. 9, the macro base station 420 sends subframes throughthe design pattern 422 with ABS, so as to improve the edge performanceof the pico base station 430, 440. Meanwhile, the pico base station 430,440 send subframes without ABS through the design pattern 432, 442.

Furthermore, in the design pattern 422, the power of a subframe isschematically represented by the height of the subframe. It is observedfrom FIG. 9 that the macro base station 420 sends four ABSs each timewhen sending one normal subframe. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the silence ratio and the power reduction amount bywhich the macro base station 420 sends ABS may be the parameter pairs inthe lists shown in FIG. 3

Those skill in the art should understand that, the apparatus 10 in FIG.1 may be included in the macro base station 420, or be included in thepico base station 430 or 440. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the macrobase station 420 as the interfering base station comprises the firstinformation acquisition unit 122 and the configuration unit 123, and thepico base station 430 and/or 440 comprises the second informationacquisition unit 132, or as shown in FIG. 5, the macro base station 420as the interfering base station comprises the first informationacquisition unit 222, and the pico base station 430 and/or 440 comprisesthe second information acquisition unit 232 and the configuration unit233.

Similar to the example shown in FIG. 7, the method shown in FIG. 8 canbe used to periodically configure the method by which the macro basestation 420 sending ABS in the example shown in FIG. 9. It should benoted that, in the example shown in FIG. 9, the macro base station 420is the interfering base station, and the pico base stations 430, 440 arethe base stations providing services to the user terminals interfered bythe macro base station 420.

Through the above description made with respect to the example shown inFIG. 9, those skill in the art will appreciate that, the embodiments ofthe present disclosure may be performed with respect to the wirelesscommunication in which the user terminals served by one or more basestations are interfered. In this case, the ABS may be configured basedon the information detected by the interfered user terminals and servedby the unused base stations.

5. Hardware Configuration Example

Respective component units and devices in the above mentioned apparatus,network and basestation according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure can be configured by way of software, firmware, hardware, orany of combinations thereof. In the case of software or firmwareimplementation, programs constituting the software or firmware areinstalled to a machine with a dedicated hardware structure (such as thecommon machine 700 shown in FIG. 10) from a storage medium or a network,wherein the machine can execute various corresponding functions of thecomponent units, subunits when being installed various programs.

In FIG. 10, a central processing unit (CPU) 701 executes variousprocesses according to programs stored in a read only memory (ROM) 702or programs loaded from the storage section 708 to the random accessmemory (RAM) 703. In RAM 703, the data required when CPU 701 executesvarious processes is stored as necessary. CPU 701, ROM 702 and RAM 703are connected to each other via a bus 704. Input/output interface 705 isalso connected to a bus 704.

The following parts are also connected to the input/output interface705: an input section 706 (including a keyboard, mouse, etc.), an outputsection 707 (including a display, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT),liquid crystal display (LCD), etc. and a speaker, etc.), a storagesection 708 (including a hard disk, etc.), a communication section 709(including a network interface card such as a LAN card, modem, etc.).The communication section 709 performs a communication process via anetwork such as Internet. If necessary, a drive 710 can also beconnected to the input/output interface 705. Removable media 711 such asa magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, asemiconductor memory or the like may be mounted on the drive 710 asrequired, such that a computer program read out therefrom may beinstalled into the storage section 708 as required.

In case of realizing the above mentioned series of processing bysoftware, a program constituting the software can be installed from anetwork such as Internet or from a storage medium such as the removablemedium 711.

Those skilled in the art should understand that, the storage medium isnot limited to the removable storage medium 711 shown in FIG. 10 thatstores programs therein and is distributed separately from the device toprovide a program to a user. Examples of the removable storage medium711 include a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk), an optical disc(including a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and a digitalversatile disk (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (including a mini disk(MD) (Registration trademarks) and a semiconductor memory. Otherwise,the storage medium may be the ROM 702, a hard disk contained in thestorage section 708, etc., which have programs stored therein and aredistributed to users together with the device including them.

Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a program product in whichmachine readable instruction codes are stored. The processing methodaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure can be executed whenthe instruction code is read and executed by the machine. Accordingly,various storage medium such as a magnetic disk, optical disk,magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory for carrying such a programproduct is also included in the technology solution of the presentdisclosure.

Additionally, it is obvious that each operational procedure of theprocessing method according to the present disclosure can also berealized in the form of a computer-executable program stored in variousmachine-readable storage media.

It should be noted that, the respective constituent units or constituentdevice of the apparatus, network and base station according to thepresent disclosure may be independent parts, and the function of severalconstituent units or constituent apparatus can also be implemented byone part.

The present disclosure discloses not only the apparatus for configuringABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network, the wirelesscommunication heterogeneous network, the method for configuring ABS in awireless communication heterogeneous network, and the program forexecuting the method and the storage medium having the program storiedtherein, but also the base station comprising the apparatus forconfiguring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network.

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described above,however, the above description is just to illustrate the presentdisclosure, and does not intend to limit the present disclosure. Thoseskilled in the art can make alternation, substitution, combination, andpartial combination to various features of embodiments of the presentdisclosure without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.The scope of the present disclosure should be limited to the appendedclaims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus in a wireless communicationnetwork, comprising: a communication interface configured to acquirefirst information associated with an indicator indicating communicationquality reported by first user terminals served by a first base station;and acquire second information associated with an indicator indicatingcommunication quality reported by second user terminals served by asecond base station based on measurement reports of the second userterminals; and a processor configured to configure, based on the firstinformation and the second information, at least one of a silence ratioand power reduction amount of Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) transmissionof the first base station for inter-base station coordination byperforming selection from a parameter table comprising predeterminedparameter pairs of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS. 2.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicator indicating thecommunication quality reported by the second user terminals isassociated with Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) of a referencesignal from the second base station measured by the second userterminals.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein thecommunication interface is further configured to acquire the secondinformation via an interface between the first base station and thesecond base station.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: theindicator indicating communication quality of the first user terminalsserved by the first base station is associated with at least one ofReference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Communication QualityIndicator, RSRP based on channel state information and coupling loss oflink when the first user terminals served by the first base stationreceive signals of the first base station.
 5. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein: the indicator indicating the communication quality ofthe second user terminals is associated with at least one of ReferenceSignal Receiving Power (RSRP), Communication Quality Indicator, RSRPbased on channel state information and coupling loss of link when thesecond user terminals receive signals of the second base station.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the processor is furtherconfigured to periodically adjust at least one of the silence ratio andpower reduction amount of Almost Blank Subframe (ABS).
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein: the apparatus is implemented as the firstbase station.
 8. A wireless communication method comprising: acquiringfirst information associated with communication quality measurementreported by first user terminals served by a first base station;acquiring second information associated with communication qualitymeasurement reported by second user terminals served by a second basestation; and configuring, based on the first information and the secondinformation, at least one of a silence ratio and power reduction amountof Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) transmission of at least one of the firstbase station and second base station for inter-base station coordinationby performing selection from a parameter table comprising predeterminedparameter pairs of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein the communication quality measurementreported by the first user terminals and the second user terminalscomprise at least one of Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP),Communication Quality Indicator, RSRP based on channel state informationand coupling loss of link.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein theconfiguring comprises: configuring radio resource of the transmission ofthe first base station and the second base station.
 11. An apparatus ina wireless communication system, comprising: processing circuitryconfigured to generate first information indicating communicationquality with a first base station; and generate second informationindicating an amount of interference imparted on the apparatus from asecond base station, wherein the first information and the secondinformation comprise at least one of measurement information ofReference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), channel state information, andcombinations thereof; and a communication interface configured to reportthe first information and the second information to the first basestation; and communicate the first base station based on a coordinatedtransmission configuration that includes a result of adjustingtransmission of at least one of the first base station and the secondbase station for inter-base station coordination based on the firstinformation and the second information.